Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrannosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur. The type name - Tyrannosaurus Rex - means 'tyrant lizard king'. It lived in the Late Cretaceous Period, about 68-65 million years ago. It reached about 13 metres in length, 6 metres in height and weighed up to six tonnes. For 100 years it was believed to be the largest carnivorous dinosaur ever to walk the earth. But then, and even bigger predator, Giganotosaurus, was discovered, knocking T-Rex off its perch. However, T-Rex is still the most popular dinosaur of all time. The teeth of Tyrannosaurus Rex are up to 30cm long. They aren't as sharp or thin as most other predators, because they weren't designed for slicing through meat - they were designed for crushing bone. It had sixty teeth in its mouth, which was 1.5 metres long, large enough to swallow a child. It had a bite force of three tonnes - twice as much as a Great White Shark. Its sense of smell was extraordinarily good, and it could smell prey from miles away. It had equally good eyesight and hearing, allowing it to detect prey from several miles away. These keen senses, bone crushing teeth and powerful jaws made it the greatest land predator ever to live. T-Rex lived in North America, with plant-eaters such as Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and Parasaurolophus. They all had excellent ways of defending themselves, which was why T-Rex had to be so advanced. T-Rex bite marks have been found on the bones of Triceratops, showing that they did indeed fight each other. T-Rex had only one drawback - its puny arms. They were barely longer than a man's, and looked tiny against such a massive beast. Two families of carnivorous dinosaurs had particularly short arms - they were the tyrannosaurs and the abelisaurs. T-Rex's arms were actually still well-muscled, and may have been used for holding down prey. Each hand had two fingers - a trademark of the tyrannosaur group. Recent evidence has also suggested T-Rex lived and hunted as a family group. This would increase the chances of survival for the newborns and the young, and would also increase the chance of a successful hunt. For example, if one T-Rex confronts a Triceratops, and the other goes in from the side, it is a lot easier to kill. Popular Culture T-Rex has appeared in many films and other media. For example, it featured in all three Jurassic Park films and many Jurassic Park video games. It was depicted as the villainous creature V-Rex in King Kong, and Chomper from the Land Before Time is also a T-Rex. 'Tiny' is a T-Rex in Meet the Robinsons. A T-Rex nicknamed 'Grumpy' is featured in the 2009 film Land of the Lost. T-Rex also features in Walking with Dinosaurs, and the Walking with Dinosaurs special 'Prehistoric Park'. It also appeared in three episodes of Jurassic Fight Club - 'T-Rex Hunter', in which it fought a Nanotyrannus, 'Biggest Killers', which was examining the largest predators, and 'Raptor vs T-Rex', where it stole an Edmontosaurus off the raptors that killed it. T-Rex]] New Feathers Idea Recent ideas and studies on T-Rex suggest it may have had feathers, though not many; maybe just a ring around the back of the skull. This theory, and a picture of it like this, was shown in 'Dinosaurs' by Steve Brusatte, a book published in 2010. Category:Tyrannosaurs Category:North American Tyrannosaurs